Why OpenAI Hired the OpenClaw Creator - The AI-Native Messenger Era Begins

Just hours ago, Sam Altman personally announced that Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, is joining OpenAI.

Peter could have turned his solo project with 180,000 GitHub stars into a standalone company. Instead, he chose to align with OpenAI. This hire isn’t a simple talent acquisition - here’s why it matters.

OpenAI Was Missing a “Mad Engineer”

Anthropic has been rapidly scaling its run rate with Claude Code. Meta acquired Manus. OpenAI was building Codex, but the pace was slow.

Boris, who built Claude Code, once said that great engineers matter more now than ever. Peter is someone who processes 600 OpenClaw-related commits per day. For OpenAI, this was a rare opportunity to instantly boost the Codex team’s firepower.

• Anthropic filed trademark complaints over the name “Clawdbot,” forcing two name changes
• Peter joked that he received a Valentine’s Day letter from Anthropic (it was from their legal team)
• Altman announced on X that Peter would “lead the next generation of personal agents”
• OpenClaw will be spun off into a foundation to preserve its open-source commitment

The Real Game-Changer: AI Moved Into the Group Chat

What happened during Chinese New Year tells the story. Tencent poured 1 billion yuan (~$140 million) into Yuanbao, its WeChat-based AI app.

They didn’t just throw cash around. They built a system where AI lives as a permanent member inside group chats - summarizing conversations, turning photos into memes, and even breaking awkward silences by starting new topics. They call it “Yuanbao Pai.” This isn’t AI as a 1:1 conversation partner. It’s AI embedded in human relationships.

• Alibaba’s AI app Quark invested 3 billion yuan, hitting 10 million orders in just 9 hours
• A simple “buy me milk tea” command triggered AI to complete the entire order
• Milk tea shops nationwide saw orders spike 5-10x above normal
• Over 30 million “buy for me” (帮我买) voice commands on day one alone

Kakao Is Moving Too, But in a Different Direction

Kakao released a one-month ChatGPT Pro subscription for 29,000 won ($21). The regular price is 300,000 won ($215). They dropped it without any marketing, and by the next day everyone was talking about it at lunch. They essentially converted token costs into marketing spend.

But this is still AI layered on top of an existing chat app. What’s happening globally is AI redefining the chat app itself.

• ChatGPT Pro voucher sold through KakaoTalk Gifts at 29,000 won (limit 5 per person)
• Some team members didn’t even know ChatGPT was available on KakaoTalk until now
• Free-to-paid conversion rates likely saw a notable jump
• Given OpenAI’s bulk pricing, Kakao’s actual losses were probably smaller than expected

OpenClaw Is Ushering in the “AI-Native Messenger” Era

OpenClaw’s architecture is fundamentally different from existing AI apps. It’s a lightweight agent framework that can run multiple bots simultaneously - managing calendars, booking flights, and even creating social networks where AIs communicate with each other.

Layer a chat app on top of this architecture and you get something entirely different from KakaoTalk. This is where my attention is firmly focused.

The reason is simple: I believe the window to replace KakaoTalk has opened. AI-native messengers will flood the market within a month.

• Meta entered the agent race with its Manus acquisition, plus OpenClaw’s service launch
• Chinese AI startups like Kimi and Minimax are rapidly entering the OpenClaw paradigm
• Chinese cloud providers are promoting OpenClaw servers at $0.99/month
• Korean cloud providers have shown zero movement in this direction

The Age of AI Apps Is Over - The Age of AI Living Inside Human Relationships Has Begun

Whoever dominates the messenger dominates the next decade. OpenClaw joining OpenAI isn’t just a talent move. It’s the starting point of a new communication paradigm where AI exists naturally between people.

There’s a world of difference between layering AI on top of an existing messenger and designing a messenger with AI at its core. The era where the latter wins is here.